Snapshots
by Dierdre
Summary: A set of fifty sentences inspired by fifty words. 2007 movieverse, Sam and Bumblebee centric


_**AN:** In the spirit of experimentation, I decided to try out a pairing for the 1 sentence LJ community. It was a lot harder than I had anticipated, but I was relatively pleased with the results, so I thought I'd share. _

_I hope y'all enjoy, gentle readers._

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****Theme Set: Delta**

**Pairing: Bumblebee/Sam, with a bit of Bee/Sam/Mikaela thrown in for spice.**

**Rating: T, for one curse word, one blatent reference to sexuality (avoid #14 if such things bother you) and a few scattered mentions of death.**

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****#01 – Air **

There wasn't anything better, Sam abruptly decided, than the sound of Bee's engine as they roared down the abandoned road, his eyes narrowed against the wind that whipped through the open windows.

**#02 – Apples**

He had never had any objection to Sam eating inside his cab, but when Ratchet had to remove a wizened apple core from the teeth of one of his transformation cogs, Bumblebee quickly revised his opinion on the matter.

**#03 – Beginning **

Sam's car window exploded inward with a satisfying crash, but when Trent drew back the crowbar for another swing, he suddenly found himself sprawled on the concrete with wiry fingers wrapped around his throat, struggling for a breath that wouldn't come as he stared up into the face of Sam, whose expression was twisted into a snarl of wrath personified.

**#04 – Bugs **

His link to the Internet was a constant reminder of the depravity and sadism that humanity could display, but whenever he needed a reminder of their compassion, all he had to do was watch his human: gentle Sam, who was terrified of spiders, but would fish them out of Mojo's water dish rather than let them drown.

**#05 – Coffee **

He would never understand Sam's attachment to that dark, bitter brew, but a year of groggy mornings had taught him to drive Sam straight to the nearest Starbucks, before even attempting to get anything intelligible out of the boy.

**#06 – Dark **

Sam's low moan emanated beyond his window and swept like an autumn chill over the driveway, where Bumblebee listened helplessly as his human battled demons in the realm of dreams, the one place he could not follow.

**#07 – Despair **

The young Autobot gave his verbal report in a precise and clinical fashion, but the continuous, subsonic wail that made Prime's body shudder like a vibration oscillator told the tale of Bumblebee's blood-spattered interior more succinctly than words ever could.

**#08 – Doors **

Sam knew he had fucked up, but he didn't understand just how badly until the next morning, when Bee refused to open the driver's side door for him.

**#09 – Drink **

Bumblebee had once tried to describe the taste of Energon to Sam, but when the best analogy he could devise was 'liquid lightning,' it had made the human's brow furrow in a way that he thought was incredibly cute.

**#10 – Duty **

Protecting Sam had started out as a duty, then as a desire, and before long it had mutated into a basic need, as vital and necessary to his life functions as the steady hum of his own spark.

**#11 – Earth **

Sam's hand trailed over the sun-warmed grass, his fingers slipping between the soft blades in an absent caress, which served as a poignant reminder to Bee that Sam belonged to this planet, in the same, indefinable way that the Autobots had once been belonged to Cybertron.

**#12 – End **

After the funeral, Bumblebee calmly parked beneath the shade of an oak tree, set the memory file entitled 'Sam' on repeat, and didn't move again for nearly ten orns.

**#13 – Fall **

As he tumbled off the building with the All Spark clutched hard against his chest, all that went through Sam's mind was a dizzy hope that his guardian would remember him fondly in the eons to come.

**#14 – Fire **

It was exquisite, this sweet burning in his body, and the feeling only increased when Mikaela arched her back and raked her rigid fingers across Bee's headliner, inciting a delicious moan from them all.

**#15 – Flexible **

Sam stretched languidly, and Bee stared in fascination as the human's spine bent like a bow, muscles playing just beneath delicate skin as he arched his arms over his head, those slender fingers splayed and scraping against the sky.

**#16 – Flying **

Time was flying by on tattered wings, and Bumblebee wished with everything in him that he could capture it in his hands, crushing it to powder and stopping it forever, before it could take his Sam away.

**#17 – Food **

Sam thought it was very sweet that Bumblebee had cooked him breakfast, but he was less appreciative when he discovered that the holographic projection of his friend had _also_ set the drapes on fire… and flooded the kitchen… and coated Mojo with a lumpy patina of pancake batter.

**#18 – Foot**

One minute Sam was standing on the top of the hill, staring pensively into the distance… and the next he felt a gentle push from a metallic foot, which sent him tumbling down the hillside in a tangle of flailing limbs and wheezing curses, accompanied by his cheeky Camero's amused laughter.

**#19 – Grave **

The humans had so many words and phrases linked with the concept of death (grave danger, gallows humor, death by chocolate, deadpan, deadline, dead silence, dead, dead, _dead_…), and he couldn't understand how Sam could be so blasé about something that frightened Bumblebee to the core.

**#20 – Green **

Daniel had seen his father angry before, but never so intensely as the day the neighbor's troublemaking son spray painted his dad's old Camero with a dozen florescent green smiley faces.

**#21 – Head **

Sam quickly learned that 'Not tonight, dear, I have a headache' was not an effective deterrent for a giant robot.

**#22 – Hollow **

His chest felt heavy, as if someone had scooped out his heart and replaced it with lead, and all he could think as he walked numbly towards the dismantled shell of his friend was that it wasn't supposed to be like this.

**#23 – Honor **

He had promised Sam years ago that he would always protect him, and even though fear now washed over him in a continuous sheet, he placed himself between the injured man and the resurrected Decepticon leader with every intention of keeping his promise.

**#24 – Hope **

As Sam ran away with the All Spark tucked securely under one arm, Bumblebee watched him go, humbled by his bravery and terrified that their only hope rested on the shoulders of one so small.

**#25 – Light **

During times of stress, it had become a habit for Bumblebee to perform a detailed scan of Sam's vital signs, where he found peace in the steady pulse of the human's heart, and reassurance in the continuous dance of electrical impulses that played throughout Sam's body, turning him into a shifting silhouette of brilliant, sparkling light.

**#26 – Lost **

He fought against it --this unreasoning, impossible love--, but every day it only grew stronger, eating away at his heart and corrupting his perceptions until he was thoroughly and irrevocably lost.

**#27 – Metal **

A lifetime of experience had taught Sam that metal should be cold and unfeeling; it shouldn't be as warm and intrinsically alive as his own skin, and it shouldn't shudder with pleasure at his lightest touch.

**#28 – New **

Sam was so unthinkably young, destined to wink out of existence in less than a vorn, and the thought that the human had chosen to spend the rest of his short, precious life with _him_ was to incite an emotion that bordered on awe.

**#29 – Old **

Bumblebee was so unthinkably old, destined to live eons after humanity faded into memory, and the thought that the Autobot had chosen to waste even a moment of his endless, incredible life with _him_ was to incite an emotion that bordered on awe.

**#30 – Peace **

Bumblebee has had many human friends in the thousand quiet years since the All Spark's destruction, but none of them have ever had quite the same impact as that awkward, gangly boy from a millennia ago, who stood his ground in the middle of a war and refused to leave him behind.

**#31 – Poison **

Bumblebee had experienced many disturbing things in his long life, but none quite so traumatizing as the day Sam contracted food poisoning and upchucked his breakfast all over Bee's shiny new upholstery.

**#32 – Pretty **

She was lovely in the sunlight, lying on her back with her hair spread over Bee's hood, and the sight of that dark fan framed by gleaming yellow made Sam's belly tighten in a most peculiar way.

**#33 – Rain **

There were few things more peaceful than the feeling of rain pinging against his roof, his windows gradually fogging over from Sam's breath as the boy leaned back in his seat, talking animatedly about nothing.

**#34 – Regret **

He doesn't understand much of what Bumblebee says when he talks of battles on worlds so alien that its inhabitants are composed of silicon and water is as poisonous as cyanide, nor does he understand when Bee talks of war games that span millennia or of comrades that lived so long they were consumed by madness… but whenever Bee falls silent and turns his face away, Sam lays his hand on his friend's forearm in silent sympathy, for even he has lived long enough to understand the concepts of loss and regret.

**#35 – Roses **

It was obvious who his secret admirer was, since everyone else knew that roses should be cut from the bush _first_; not laid at his doorstep in their entirety, leaves, roots and all.

**#36 – Secret **

It had become difficult, lately, to look at Sam directly; to see those beautiful brown eyes clouded with age, his every movement and gesture filled with a terrible acceptance of his own mortality.

**#37 – Snakes **

Sam had given up his pretense at driving a while ago, and he now stared out the window with his hands resting on his lap, all but mesmerized by the sight of the light dusting of snow on the road, which had been stirred and whipped into tendrils by the breeze until it writhed across the asphalt like the ghosts of a thousand snakes.

**#38 – Snow **

The blizzard winds were so bitterly cold that they cut through Sam's clothing like a knife, and all Bumblebee could do was gather him up in his hands and hold him close to his spark, hoping that the warmth emanating from his chest plate would quell the human's desperate shivering.

**#39 – Solid **

Bee brings up his hand to steady the small being perched on his shoulder, and Sam leans trustingly against those large, unyielding fingers, the warm metal a comforting pressure against his back as he hefts the rocket launcher and takes careful aim.

**#40 – Spring **

Spring was glorious that year, and Sam and Mikaela went to the lookout almost every day, where they managed to learn several informative things: giant robots play hide-and-seek remarkably well; Sam gets hyper after too much sun; and, yes, it _is_ possible to weave a daisy chain long enough to create a fetching necklace for Sam's longsuffering guardian.

**#41 – Stable **

Perhaps it was selfish, but it was still comforting to know that Bee's long lifespan meant he would be spared the sight of the one he loved most aging with him, degrading and dying by inches.

**#42 – Strange **

Bee's holographic projectors allowed him to create as many pleasing shapes as a hormonally-charged young human could desire, but after a few heady months of experimentation, Sam found that there was nothing more beautiful than Bee in his natural form, every gleaming metal inch of him a testament to perfection.

**#43 – Summer **

School would close for the summer in a few more days, which meant endless weeks of long, lazy drives, sunning sessions on Bumblebee's hood, soft-spoken conversations beneath a blanket of stars, and oh god, he just couldn't _wait!_

**#44 – Taboo **

When they were forcibly launched into the air with the help of Bee's excellent hydraulic system, the young humans quickly learned a valuable life lesson: making out on top of a giant, sentient robot was a big no-no.

**#45 – Ugly **

Humans were ugly by transformer standards, with their rounded curves, pliant skin and disturbingly mobile faces, but when Sam had smiled at him for the first time, Bumblebee was forced to revise everything he thought he knew.

**#46 – War **

The battle had ended in their favor, but instead of celebrating his miraculous victory over an ancient evil, all Sam wanted to do was climb into Bee's lap, wrap his arms around the Autobot's broad waist, and shake until his teeth rattled.

**#47 – Water**

It had only taken one washing from Sam for Bumblebee to conclude that the power nozzle was the greatest invention on this or any other world.

**#48 – Welcome**

After a month long absence, Sam was so excited that he tripped over Mojo in his rush to greet Bumblebee, whereupon the Autobot nearly fried a circuit laughing as Sam tried to console the indignant dog and hug his hood at the same time.

**#49 – Winter **

Sam burst out from behind the snow bank and launched his missile, laughter billowing from his lungs in clouds of milky white as the snow ball hit his astonished guardian square in the faceplate.

**#50 – Wood**

The old oak tree bore fresh scars along its side, where an inexperienced hand had carved the words Sam and Mikaela, but the odd thing that passersby always commented on was the _third_ word, which had been carved into the bark with all the precision of a laser: the word Bumblebee curved gracefully over the first two names, as if protecting and sheltering them both.


End file.
